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Babies don’t come with an instruction manual, but now help is at hand thanks to a new online resource called DadPad, which can help new dads in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire get ready for parenthood!
Dr Andy Mayers: Quite simply, don’t be afraid to talk about your mental health and then feel confident to seek that help. Keeping quiet and doing nothing will only make it worse. Finally, we were also delighted to be awarded the Best Fatherhood Information & Guidance Platform 2022 by Global Health Pharma!requires an understanding of the key ‘family’ structure and composition as well as being alert to wider family issues that may have a bearing on the overall wellbeing of the family [and]…any specific individuals an agency is working with. Services that take a whole family approach can benefit from establishing how the needs of other family members might affect their principal ‘client’ and how meeting those needs might benefit their client. So, if you are working with a child in a family, it is important to be aware of the needs of their parent/carers, or any other family members, and how they impact on the safety and wellbeing of the child. Similarly, if you are working with an adult, it is important to consider how their needs may impact on their partner/family, including whether there are others who act in a care role for that adult, and/or whether that adult has a caring or parental role for any children in the family and/or other adults. You can find out more about the reasons why our DadPad resources need to be written specifically for dads here, but some of the key reasons for writing them as ‘the DadPad’ (and not, for example, ‘the ParentPad’) are: In terms of actual PND, Dr Andy Mayers reminds us that, “ …PND (like ‘depression’) is not just about being sad. While low mood is common, another crucial symptom is losing the motivation to do those things we would normally do. It’s also about the duration, frequency and timing of symptoms.” West Yorkshire & Harrogate: http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk/blog/dadpad-app-launches-in-west-yorkshire-and-harrogate/ The DadPad is best utilised as early as possible during pregnancy, around birth and beyond, as it provides guidance relating to babies and children up to the age of two years. It’s particularly useful to have during paternity leave. But isn’t it sexist to have written a resource solely for dads? What about other family demographics?
Further, from the beginning and as we continue, our work is based upon and grounded in research evidence concerning aspects of fatherhood – including: and many other emotions. Above all, his head will be spinning, and yet he will more than likely be expected to take on board – on behalf of his whole, new family – lots of new and complex information. Multilingual maternity resources – These are the many different languages available to give help and advice. DadPad has also been featured in magazines, including the Sep/Oct edition of Public Sector Focus, and the Winter 2022 Mersey Care Magazine.The team at Worcestershire added that it is “ worth dads being aware that irritability is often a symptom of postnatal depression, along with low mood.” Julian Bose and the team at DadPad– with their collective expertise and experience in working with and producing high-quality, bespoke materials, custom-written for dads’ specific needs; FREE helpline: 0808 1961 776. Available on all landlines from Monday – Sunday 11.00 am-10.00 pm, the helpline is manned by a team of trained volunteers who will be happy to chat to you and direct you to the right support. The father-child relationship can be explored by asking the father about his own expectations, experiences, dreams and hopes… Risk and resilience are [also] important factors to consider when working with families. There are lots of good reasons – many of them evidenced via academic research – as to why the DPNN is a vital tool to have within a Neonatal Unit. For World Prematurity Day in November 2020, we were approached by Joanne King, a Health Visitor from Wolverhampton, to write a guest blog for us in which she shared some of the key findings from her dissertation on bonding and attachment from the perspective of a dad with a baby on a neonatal unit. You can read her blog post in full here, but a summary of some of her key points – with a link each time to how the DPNN can help – is set out below:
Kerry adds, though, that whilst “ social media can be useful if following motivational and positive content, …it can also be an unwelcome distraction when used as a comparison tool.”
About DadPad: Think Family
Having chosen to invest in including and engaging with dads-to-be, and wanting to encourage new dads to get involved and come forward with questions and issues they have throughout their partner’s pregnancy and beyond, the DadPad App is free to you. One of the core points that we are continually trying to demonstrate through our work is that, to support mum and baby properly, then whoever is their co-parent is just as important to engage and involve to ensure that the ‘maternity’ support being provided is robust and effective, and not subject to the continued insistence that mum provides, holds and imparts all the information, a burden that mums seem to have been expected to bear since time immemorial. As we move, as a society, to more equal relationships and shared responsibility, surely there should also come a respect for the ability of every parent or parent-figure within that baby’s life to be provided with and have an understanding of critical issues that affect both parties? Berger et al (2011) Abusive Head Trauma During a Time of Increased Unemployment: A Multicenter Analysis. [ online]
According to figures quoted by the UK’s ICON – Babies Cry, You Can Cope campaign, approximately 70% of shaken baby syndrome incidents have male perpetrators. Further, a report published in the US National Center for Biotechnology Information journal last month suggests that the perpetrator of incidents of abusive head trauma in infants under the age of five years is “ usually a caregiver or parent, with 65% to 90% being male“; and Finally, all at #TeamDadPad have – as always – done our utmost to attend as many training events and conferences as we possibly can, to continue to grow our knowledge and awareness and, as a consequence, further improve all that we’re able to collectively offer. Funding from the National Lottery’s Awards4All allowed the concept to be developed. The rest of the development, production and initial printing was funded by Inspire Cornwall CIC, as part of their reinvestment in perinatal support for new families, within their profit-for-purpose mission. Developed in 2017 by the DadPad team, in partnership with Prof Minesh Khashu of Poole Hospital and Bournemouth University, the DadPad Neonatal (DPNN) is intended to aid better communication with and support for dads of babies in neonatal care.
About DadPad: What is the DadPad?
Emma Norton, a neonatal nurse at Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske, who worked with the DadPad team as the resource was being developed, has said: This is all in addition to our popular ‘how-to’ content covering key baby-care topics such as: holding; changing; washing and bathing; and feeding. We are delighted to have been given the chance to work with the teams at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to be able to now launch this resource for dads and dads-to-be across the area.”
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